John and Jen – Sydney Fringe Festival 2011

 We all have moments we wish we could relive. We all regret mistakes we feel we’ve made and grieve for opportunities lost. But when that regret and grief is so deep that it colours the way we live each day, we can be setting ourselves up for years of living in the past, unable to see the right way forward. 

 Sydney Fringe Festival 2011  Presented by: Edward Grey, Benjamin Giraud & Benita de Wit in association with Newtown Entertainment Precinct AssociationVenue: Sidetrack Theatre, Marrickville Date of review: Tuesday 20 September, 2011
We all have moments we wish we could relive. We all regret mistakes we feel we’ve made and grieve for opportunities lost. But when that regret and grief is so deep that it colours the way we live each day, we can be setting ourselves up for years of living in the past, unable to see the right way forward. 
The first act of John and Jen tells the story of an older sister and younger brother growing up together living with their violent father the 1960s. Torn between her need to protect her little brother and her need to have her own freedom in the world, Jen eventually moves away, leaving John to fend for himself. They both take completely different paths in life and Jen ends up losing John. The second act is all about Jen as a single mother, with her son (named John, after her brother), attempting to cope with the overwhelming grief she feels for her brother. Jen is desperate to not make the same mistakes that she made with her brother, but ends up making all new ones.
The show, written by Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald, has some wonderful, tear-jerking moments, but overall is a little overly ambitious. It spans 40 years, and moves at such an incredibly fast pace there’s hardly room for the audience to breathe. The script and lyrics become, at times, overly sentimental, dragging the audience through the most dramatic, life-changing moments of the characters, leaving little room for actual character development. The score, by Andrew Lippa, has some great moments, including John’s ‘It Took Me A While’, but lacks variety. It’s not a bad show by any stretch of the imagination, and it certainly addresses important themes, but it does suffer from some structural problems.
Any shortcomings in the script are well and truly made up for by the excellent quality of this production directed by Benjamin Giraud and incredible performances from Naomi Livingston and Edward Grey. Livingston and Grey are absolutely perfect in their roles, capturing every nuance, creating rich, textured performances. They work very well together – their relationships as brother and sister and mother and son are completely believable. They both have great voices, tackling all the challenges in Lippa’s score, which is brought to life by a wonderful three-piece band under the direction of Isaac Hayward. Their performances are so immediate and real, it’s difficult not to be moved. If you’re looking for the ‘next big thing’ in Australian theatre, either of these two may just be it. They definitely have everything it takes.
While John and Jen may not be the perfect musical, this production is a moving experience that will stay with you for a long time. Until 24 September, 2011 
Photo by: Kerry Fluhr